Taking Blood for Transfusion (In Potain's Aspirator). Further Details Including Cold Storage

2. Sterility of the blood taken for storage The contrivance described for. taking blood for transfusion was originally intended for bleeding a donor, and using the blood within an hour or so. The precautions taken aimed at surgical asepsis but not bacteriological sterility. It was, however, found that blood taken by the same device for injecting -animals and kept for several weeks in the cold remained free from signs of contamination. The blood stays at room temperature for half an hour, and presumably during this period its immunological forces deal effectively with the stray micro-organismal intruders. Sterile nutrient broth bottled like the blood is not likely to stay sterile. Incidentally, the writers now use plain sodium citrate solution instead of Rous and Turner's solution in taking and keeping human blood for producing anti-M and anti-N fluids (Greval, Chandra and Woodhead, 1939).